Local woman's grandson behind the Obama "Hope" poster

ANDERSON - On a wall in Martha Fairey's house is a large drawing, completed in charcoal, of a young man, staring at a map with many curves, circles and corners and the word, "future," printed at the top. The man looks as if he is ready to enter a doorway with a lit lamp near the threshold.

Fairey could sell the drawing on Ebay today and fetch several thousand dollars — maybe even a sum near $50,000.

This one isn't going anywhere though, for two reasons.

The signature the drawing bears in the corner is that of Shepard Fairey. He is the man behind the iconic image of President Barack Obama that appeared at political rallies through the campaign and which just appeared on the cover of Time magazine. It is now part of the permanent collection at The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

And he is also someone close to Martha's heart.

"I am proud of him," Martha said. "But he's still my grandson."

So as she watches him on The Colbert Report and flips through the latest issue of GQ to see his smile, she really knows the face staring back at her. She remembers when he was a boy playing in the creek behind her and her husband, Frank Strait Fairey's Rock Hill home, or when he was a high school kid, trying to find his way in the world when he completed that charcoal drawing.

"Even when he came to visit, he would play, construct things and draw," Martha said.

Shepard Fairey, 38, grew up in Charleston, the son of Martha's oldest son, Strait Fairey. Strait followed in the footsteps of his father by entering the medical profession. Shepard, however, would not take that same path.

In fact, this skateboarder had a different agenda in mind when he was a student at Wando High School in Charleston. He wanted to be an artist.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I've been drawing," Shepard said. "Skateboarding is aggressive and rebellious but it is creative. Ultimately, I channeled all that it into my art."

His art career started in 1989 with a simple campaign. He placed an image he created of World Wrestling Federation star, Andre the Giant, on a sticker and wrote the words, "Andre the Giant has a posse" on it. On some, he just wrote the word, "obey," on them and then wanted to see what would happen. Would people just follow the stickers? Would they ask questions?

The sticker campaign took off. They spread around Rhode Island where he was in school and even aboard.

Now, with more than 20 years of energy, plus his training at the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a place in The Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

He has designed album covers for The Blackeyed Peas and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Pepsi, Ford, Jeep and Honda have commissioned his artwork.

Then in January 2008, as Barack Obama's presidential campaign was picking up speed, Shepard decided he wanted to do something to support the candidate he believed in. But he wanted to make sure that he had the approval of Obama's official campaign. They said yes. So he went to work.

His poster, an image of Obama's face in shades of red and blue with the word, "Hope," at the bottom was not an official campaign poster. But it became one of the most recognizable images at rallies and campaign events.

"It came from the heart," Shepard said. "I felt like Obama had a lot of views on topics that I cared about, that I agreed with."

At first, Shepard made about 100 posters to sell and raise money to print more posters. He began plastering them in public places, on the sides of buildings, and within one week, Shepard made and distributed 10,000 posters. He said by the end of the campaign, 300,000 posters were made along with 500,000 stickers.

However, he only sold 4,000 posters.

Now, his work is part of the official presidential inauguration.

"Shepard Fairey has captured the hope and excitement that is building across the country for President-elect Obama's Inauguration," Presidential Inaugural Committee spokesperson Brent Colburn said.

Next month, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston will showcase a 20-year retrospective of his work.

As someone who started out as a skater, whose mission was to have people think for themselves and not follow the masses, how does he feel about all the "mainstream" attention?

"In a big way, what I have achieved has just proved that the independent methods I have used to get my message out there have succeeded," Shepard said, taking a break Friday from a book signing. "I still do the things I've always done. It is not a departure, but more of an evolution."

Looks like he's found his way on that map he drew so many years ago. And his grandma couldn't be prouder.